Hmm. A matchmaker who has trouble finding a match for herself – sound familiar? Well it is a romantic comedy and once the basic premise of the film is established, you can pretty much guess how it will turn out in the end. Still, doesn’t mean it isn’t watchable.
So how does it stand as a Romantic Comedy? Well, I will admit it is quite enjoyable and something that doesn’t take much effort to watch. With the plot well established, what makes these movies are the characters and their relationships. In A Perfect Match, most of the characters I could automatically relate to and associate to people I know (not including me of course. Haha. Much too staid and dull to be a character in a romantic comedy.)
The main character, Hyo Jin, is for all intents and purposes Emma but Shin Eun Kyung pulls off a good performance as the caregiver who’s concerns seem greater for her friends and clients than for herself. And the chemistry between herself and Hyun Su (Jung Joon Su) is convincing and reminiscent of many a Meg Ryan film. Jung Joon Su is effortless as the introspective Hyun Su and but really is does little but be the object of affection. The other characters that populate the film are, however, where the strength lies. It was always fun to watch Hyo Jin’s pack of lovelorn friends lament about their situation or the drinking sessions between her and Jung Joon, her long time confidant – who just happens to be a guy that holds a torch for her. Otherwise the film is littered with misadventures and chance encounters that push the film along towards what you know is coming.
But any problem I may have had was not so much with the movie itself but more appropriately the genre itself. I mean, I cannot say that much distinguishes A Perfect Match from the number of other Romantic Comedies I have seen. It was Korean and some aspects of the film are distinctly integral to the culture such as the openness of the intentions of what we see as dating agencies to ultimately get a marriage arranged. I also found the amount of parent intervention of interest – but then that could just be my western sensibilities. Expectations weren’t high and nothing really suggested they should be. On that note, however, I would recommend you stick around for the credit sequence as it shows a different story altogether that I thought was quite clever.
So A Perfect Match is a fine example of the Romantic Comedy genre and easily enjoyable at that. It is the kind of movie you need to share with somebody though. Either to smile at how lucky you are or laugh at how life never seems to be that simple.